The segregation by gender of Muslim students has been in the news this week, after a pressure group claimed the practice was widespread. Reyhana Patel, herself a Muslim, believes that gender segregation can actually be empowering for her and her sisters,
Category Archives: UK
Metro Detroit: bigots lose campaign against sale of school building to Islamic group
A grand jury won’t be empaneled to investigate the Farmington Public Schools Board of Education’s sale of district property to the Islamic Cultural Association, the state attorney general’s office has decided.
The request for a grand jury investigation followed legal wrangling [see here and here] spanning more than two years over the $1.1 million sale of the Eagle Elementary School site in West Bloomfield to the ICA. Opponents alleged no other offers were considered. The FPS Board maintained that it received inquiries on the property but the Islamic group made the only purchase offer.
Rural council votes to stop flying flag of St George claiming it is offensive to town’s 16 Muslims because of links to CRUSADES
That’s the headline to a story that appeared in the Daily Mail yesterday.
The report concerns a debate by Radstock Town Council in Somerset over which flag to fly on Armistice Day on the town’s newly restored flagpole. The council confirmed an earlier decision to purchase a Union flag rather than a St George’s flag. According to the Mail‘s version of events, this decision was motivated by a concern not to offend the town’s small Muslim population.
EDL member bailed on religious harassment charge
During the recent English Defence League protest in Leeds against a plan to convert a disused pub into a Muslim-run community centre, one of the demonstrators was reported to have thrown a pig’s head. It would appear that an EDL member has subsequently been charged with religiously aggravated intentional harassment as a result of this action.
Shrewsbury: Second man arrested over Muslim prayer centre Facebook comments
A second man has been arrested for alleged race hate comments made on the internet over the proposed Muslim prayer centre in Shrewsbury, it was revealed today.
The man in his 20s, who lives in the town, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of using words or carrying out behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred. His computers were also seized and the man has since been released on police bail while police continue their inquiries.
And detectives have given final warnings to two other Shrewsbury men – both in their 20s – in connection with comments made about the plans on Facebook. Both men have agreed to remove their posts from the site and not to add any further comments.
EDL leaders spread false rumour about gang rape by Muslims in Luton
This is the inflammatory post by English Defence League co-leader Kevin Carroll that appeared on his organisation’s Facebook page yesterday. Here are some examples of the responses it provoked among supporters of the “non-violent” EDL. They include calls for arson attacks on mosques and for Muslims to be stabbed, along with appeals to “burn them all” and “kill them all”.
EDL splinter group to protest against Lincoln mosque
East Midlands Anti-fascists report that an English Defence League splinter group called the East Anglian Patriots have announced they will be holding a protest in Lincoln next month against a plan to build a new mosque.
Appealing to their supporters to help “stop this muzzie infested building getting built”, the administrators of the “Stop the Lincoln Mosque” Facebook page state that although this will not be an official EDL demonstration they are “all edl on here pretty much”.
Fascists cancel Crayford mosque protest
A right-wing organisation led by a former BNP councillor for Swanley has scrapped plans to protest outside a Crayford mosque this weekend.
The English National Resistance were set to rally against what it branded the “sexist and offensive” signs at North West Kent Muslim Association’s mosque in Crayford High Street on Saturday (May 18). Members are angry the building has separate entrances for men and women.
But the new group, spearheaded by Paul Golding, has now called it off – but vowed to continue the campaign to remove the signs through his other nationalist movement, Britain First.
Campaign against Muslim prayer centre in Shrewsbury is BNP front
A group set up to campaign against a prayer centre in Shrewsbury is just another BNP front. The group “Against the Shrewsbury Muslim prayer centre” is complaining that Shropshire Council has sold Column Lodge to the Shropshire Bangladesh Welfare Society in a £215,000 deal.
Barking and Dagenham: Two attacks on Muslim women wearing hijab
Two Muslim women were attacked by strangers in parks, with both incidents being reported within days of each other.
A woman wearing a hijab veil in Greatfields Park in Barking was repeatedly punched in the head by two white women who branded her a “Muslim terrorist”.
It was one of two racially-motivated incidents reported last week to anti-Muslim attack support service Tell Mama, which is run by the charity Faith Matters.